Hot time in EU

The first half of Fall 2009 was a busy season in European politics.

On September 27, the general elections took place in Germany. The results were pretty optimistic–conservatives won the elections and kept the top spot, socialists lost and left the coalition, while liberals became a new member of a ruling coalition. The same weekend, elections took place in Portugal. The results were less optimistic, as the socialists stayed in power and will probably form a coalition with the Left Bloc, another socialist political party. And on October 4, Greece elected a new socialist government.

In the first weekend of October, Ireland voted for the second time on the referendum concerning the ratification of the Lisbon treaty, which would further concentrate political and economic power in Brussels. This time Irish citizens approved ratification, which now makes Czech President Václav Klaus the lone holdout. With the Lisbon treaty close to being ratified, things are heating up on the EU political stage. The treaty would create two significant vacancies for the top body of the European Commission. And even though the treaty is not yet ratified, there are already huge debates among the EU countries about the candidates for these two posts. But for these two positions–that are supposed to be the most important ones for the EU–European citizens are not expected to be asked for their opinions or suggestions. Now it will all be decided for them…